Germain Bayon

Intensifying Weathering and Land Use in Iron Age Central Africa

A Price of Civilization Large expanses of rainforests in parts of Central Africa were abruptly replaced by savannas around 3000 years ago, presumably because of climate change. However, that succession occurred at a time of expansion by Bantu tribes, from near the border of present-day Cameroon and Nigeria to the south and east, in a migration that brought with it agriculture and iron-smelting technologies. Bayon et al. (p. 1219, published online 9 February; see the Perspective by Dupont) analyzed the nearby marine sedimentary record and found that chemical weathering in Central Africa also increased markedly at this time. This increase in weathering could have been caused by forest clearing by the Bantu to create arable land and to fuel their smelters, rather than climate change alone. Savannas abruptly replaced rainforests around 3000 years ago on account of both climate and human land-use changes. About 3000 years ago, a major vegetation change occurred in Central Africa, when rainforest trees were abruptly replaced by savannas. Up to this point, the consensus of the scientific community has been that the forest disturbance was caused by climate change. We show here that chemical weathering in Central Africa, reconstructed from geochemical analyses of a marine sediment core, intensified abruptly at the same period, departing substantially from the long-term weathering fluctuations related to the Late Quaternary climate. Evidence that this weathering event was also contemporaneous with the migration of Bantu-speaking farmers across Central Africa suggests that human land-use intensification at that time had already made a major impact on the rainforest.

Hydrate dissolution as a potential mechanism for pockmark formation in the Niger delta

Received 17 February 2010; accepted 9 March 2010; published 11 August 2010. [1] Based on acquired geophysical, geological and geotechnical data and modeling, we suggest hydrate dissolution to cause sediment collapse and pockmark formation in the Niger delta. Very high‐resolution bathymetry data acquired from the Niger delta reveal the morphology of pockmarks with different shapes and sizes going from a small ring depression surrounding an irregular floor to more typical pockmarks with uniform depression. Geophysical data, in situ piezocone measurements, piezometer measurements and sediment cores demonstrate the presence of a common internal architecture of the studied pockmarks: inner sediments rich in gas hydrates surrounded by overpressured sediments. The temperature, pressure and salinity conditions of the studied area have allowed us to exclude the process of gas‐hydrate dissociation (gas hydrate turns into free gas/water mixture) as a trigger of the observed pockmarks. Based on numerical modeling, we demonstrate that gas‐hydrate dissolution (gas hydrate becomes mixture of water and dissolved gas) under a local decrease of the gas concentration at the base of the gas‐hydrate occurrence zone (GHOZ) can explain the excess pore pressure and fluid flow surrounding the central hydrated area and the sediment collapse at the border of the GHOZ. The different deformation (or development) stages of the detected pockmarks confirm that a local process such as the amount of gas flow through faults rather than a regional one is at the origin of those depressions.

The control of weathering processes on riverine and seawater hafnium isotope ratios

Hafnium 176 Hf/ 177 Hf isotope ratio variations in marine records are thought to reflect changes in continental weathering through time, but the behavior of Hf in rivers, and during weathering, is not well understood. Here, we present 176 Hf/ 177 Hf data for rivers, bedrock, soils, and leaching experiments for the Moselle basin, Vosges, France. These data strongly suggest that the 176 Hf/ 177 Hf composition of river waters is controlled by prefer- ential dissolution of accessory phases (i.e., apatite, sphene) versus more resistant minerals (e.g., K-feldspar) and linked to the intensity of silicate weathering. Estimates for the global isotopic composition of riverine Hf suggest that the ocean Hf budget may be dominated by river input, and variations seen in marine records can be directly related to changes in silicate weathering intensity.

Determination of rare earth elements and other trace elements (Y, Mn, Co, Cr) in seawater using Tm addition and Mg(OH)2 co-precipitation

This paper reports on a novel procedure for determining trace element abundances (REE and Y, Cr, Mn, Co) in seawater by inductively coupled plasma sector field mass spectrometry (ICP-SFMS). The procedure uses a combination of pre-concentration using co-precipitation onto magnesium hydroxides and addition of thulium spike. The validity of the method was assessed onto 25 ml volumes of certified reference materials (NASS- and CASS-4) and in house seawater standard. Procedural blanks were determined by applying the same procedure to aliquots of seawater previously depleted in trace elements by successive Mg(OH)(2) co-precipitations, yielding estimated contributions to the studied samples better than 1.1% for all elements, with the exception of Cr (<3.3%) and Co (up to 8%). The reproducibility of the method over the six month duration of the study was smaller than 11% RSD for all the studied elements. Results obtained for NASS-5 and CASS-4 agree well with published working values for trace elements.

Formation of carbonate chimneys in the Mediterranean Sea linked to deep-water oxygen depletion

Marine sediments at ocean margins vent substantial amounts of methane1, 2. Microbial oxidation of the methane released can trigger the precipitation of carbonate within sediments and support a broad diversity of seafloor ecosystems3, 4. The factors controlling microbial activity and carbonate precipitation associated with the seepage of submarine fluid over geological time remain poorly constrained. Here, we characterize the petrology and geochemistry of rocks sampled from metre-size build-ups of methane-derived carbonate chimneys located at the Amon mud volcano on the Nile deep-sea fan. We find that these carbonates comprise porous structures composed of aggregated spherules of aragonite, and closely resemble microbial carbonate reefs forming at present in the anoxic bottom waters of the Black Sea5. Using U-series dating, we show that the Amon carbonate build-ups formed between 12 and 7 thousand years ago, contemporaneous with the deposition of organic-rich sediments in the eastern Mediterranean, the so-called sapropel layer S1. We propose that the onset of deep-water suboxic or anoxic conditions associated with sapropel formation resulted in the development of intense anaerobic microbial activity at the sea floor, and thus the formation of carbonate chimneys.

North Atlantic Deep Water Production during the Last Glacial Maximum.

Changes in deep ocean ventilation are commonly invoked as the primary cause of lower glacial atmospheric CO2. The water mass structure of the glacial deep Atlantic Ocean and the mechanism by which it may have sequestered carbon remain elusive. Here we present neodymium isotope measurements from cores throughout the Atlantic that reveal glacial–interglacial changes in water mass distributions. These results demonstrate the sustained production of North Atlantic Deep Water under glacial conditions, indicating that southern-sourced waters were not as spatially extensive during the Last Glacial Maximum as previously believed. We demonstrate that the depleted glacial δ13C values in the deep Atlantic Ocean cannot be explained solely by water mass source changes. A greater amount of respired carbon, therefore, must have been stored in the abyssal Atlantic during the Last Glacial Maximum. We infer that this was achieved by a sluggish deep overturning cell, comprised of well-mixed northern- and southern-sourced waters.

Human impact overwhelms long-term climate control of weathering and erosion in southwest China

During the Holocene there has been a gradual increase in the influence of humans on Earth systems. High-resolution sedimentary records can help us to assess how erosion and weathering have evolved in response to recent climatic and anthropogenic disturbances. Here we present data from a high-resolution (similar to 75 cm/k.y.) sedimentary archive from the South China Sea. Provenance data indicate that the sediment was derived from the Red River, and can be used to reconstruct the erosion and/or weathering history in this river basin. Accelerator mass spectrometry C-14 dating provides direct age control and reveals coherent variations in clay mineralogy, geochemistry, and terrigenous flux, indicative of strong chemical weathering and physical erosion during the mid-Holocene warm period (6400-4000 cal [calibrated] yr B.P.), followed by weakening from ca. 4000-1800 cal yr B.P., and renewed intensification since 1800 cal yr B.P.. Comparison with climatic records from China indicates that precipitation and temperature controlled both physical erosion and chemical weathering intensity before 1800 cal yr B.P.. However, weathering proxies in the offshore sediment indicate recent increased soil erosion. We suggest that enhanced human activity (deforestation, cultivation, and mining) since the end of the Chinese Han Dynasty (220 CE) has overwhelmed the natural climatic controls on erosion in the Red River.

Abrupt drainage cycles of the Fennoscandian Ice Sheet

Continental ice sheets are a key component of the Earth’s climate system, but their internal dynamics need to be further studied. Since the last deglaciation, the northern Eurasian Fennoscandian Ice Sheet (FIS) has been connected to the Black Sea (BS) watershed, making this basin a suitable location to investigate former ice-sheet dynamics. Here, from a core retrieved in the BS, we combine the use of neodymium isotopes, high-resolution elemental analysis, and biomarkers to trace changes in sediment provenance and river runoff. We reveal cyclic releases of meltwater originating from Lake Disna, a proglacial lake linked to the FIS during Heinrich Stadial 1. Regional interactions within the climate–lake–FIS system, linked to changes in the availability of subglacial water, led to abrupt drainage cycles of the FIS into the BS watershed. This phenomenon raised the BS water level by ∼100 m until the sill of the Bosphorus Strait was reached, flooding the vast northwestern BS shelf and deeply affecting the hydrology and circulation of the BS and, probably, of the Marmara and Aegean Seas.

Determination of ultra-low 236U/238U isotope ratios by tandem quadrupole ICP-MS/MS

Isotope ratios of 236U/238U were measured at levels below 10−7 by single collector ICPMS with a tandem quadrupole mass separation mechanism. Peak tailing of the prominent 238U+ ion beam on the 236U+ peak was reduced to the level of ∼10−10 by use of two quadrupole mass filters. The 235UH+ interference on 236U+ was efficiently reduced to a UH+/U+ ratio of 1 × 10−8 by an ion–molecule reaction between UH+ and O2 in a collision/reaction cell placed between the two quadrupoles. The resultant detection limit for 236U/238U measurement was better than those reported by any other ICPMS study. The 236U/238U ratios, measured as 236U16O+/238U16O+, were determined in the range 10−9 to 10−7 without correction for spectral interference. Accurate measurements of 236U/238U to as low as 1 × 10−10 are projected.

Increased input of circumpolar deep water‐borne detritus to the glacial SE Atlantic Ocean

Analysis of radiogenic isotopes in marine sediments can provide useful information on the provenance and transport of detrital material, directly relevant to paleoceanographic investigations. Here we show that the detrital Nd isotopic composition of recent SE Atlantic marine sediments matches the complex modern-day hydrography. In these same cores, glacial-interglacial isotopic variations are consistent with previous investigations (using different paleoceanographic proxies), which have shown that the relative influence of North Atlantic Deep Water (NADW) into the South Atlantic was reduced during glacial periods. In a novel departure, however, we also calculate the mass accumulation rates of terrigenous material delivered by each of Circumpolar Deep Water (CDW) and NADW to demonstrate that the accumulation of detritus delivered by CDW was enhanced significantly in the glacial South Atlantic. This enhanced transport flux could be explained by an increased flow of CDW into the glacial South Atlantic and/or an increased concentration of suspended terrigenous material transported by glacial CDW.